The 20 worst A-Braves pitchers: #1-4, Frank LaCorte

S0 20 pitchers was a bit ambitious. Life’s too short to waste it parsing the stats of Jim Panther and Randy O’Neal.

Besides, Frank LaCorte was so bad he deserves four spots. While this list wasn’t completed in order of suckitude, no Braves pitcher sucked more than LaCorte, though you could make a case for Kevin Coffman.

LaCorte, the fifth pitcher from the ’77 squad to make the list, appeared in 14 games that year, half as a starter. He lost 6 of those 7 starts with an 11.57 ERA. His ERA in relief: 11.91.

Left-handed hitters batted .404 against LaCorte; righties, .389. He was 0-4 at Fulco with a 15.16 ERA.

LaCorte’s only win came in the season’s fourth game — his first — a 7-6 decision over the Dodgers.

The Braves traded him in 1979 to the Astros for Bo McLaughlin. LaCorte’s final Braves numbers: 4-24, 6.23 ERA, 1.631 WHIP.

He actually turned into a decent reliever with the ‘Stros, winning 8 and saving 11 for the 1980 NL West champions. But he’ll always be remembered as the worst hurler to ever toe the slab on Capitol Ave.

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5 comments

i think what happened he teased the brass by twirling a 3-12 record in 76 and of course a slender almost 5 era. So bristol put him out their in 77 with the pinestripes and let him embarass the franchise even more . Finally in may they plulled the plug ( just as the 77 team got mathamatically eliminated) . Buried in richmond . Then they bring up the ass clown as a sept call up in 78 !!!!. and in 79 he even makes the team ( out of options i assume) and then finally put out of our misery in may getting dealt.
Hard to believe he never got selected in the 300 rounds 10 phased of the MLB draft that they had back in the day .. yeah he actually had some okay numbers for the stros ( oh well we got Bo)

LaCorte wasn’t only the worst pitcher in Atlanta history: he’s the all-time franchise leader in awfulness. 135 years of baseball, about 70 of which saw the team mired in last place with putrid pitching staffs, and LaCorte still takes the cake. He deserves a plaque.

i don’t think so. i also don’t think they’re fully cognizant of the repercussions their slanderous article had on Mr. Lurie. even on a basic human level i think their article was reckless and uncboscionanle.